For debugging purposes I need to access the shared preferences file of my application. As far as I know I should find this file in /data/... but I can't access the /data folder through to missing permissions. Is this normal? Any way to still access the file? (except maybe raeding it from inside the application?) The phone is not rooted and I also don't want to root it. Thanks for any hint!
I have ran into this issue in the past (not having root permission on the file system but needing access to the applications data folder). If you don't have a rooted device or a developer device such as the ADP1 then you can try running your application on the emulator and then accessing the files from the "File Explorer" in eclipse or DDMS.
EDIT #1: Try using the getAll function of sharedPreferences and saving that to a file, I will see if I can throw together a sample.
EDIT #2: Example Code, created from random samples around the net, probably not the best way to do it, but I tested it and it does work. It writes a file to the root of your sdcard. Make sure you have
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
set in your manifest
private void saveSharedPreferences()
{
// create some junk data to populate the shared preferences
SharedPreferences prefs = getSharedPreferences("MyPrefs", MODE_PRIVATE);
SharedPreferences.Editor prefEdit = prefs.edit();
prefEdit.putBoolean("SomeBooleanValue_True", true);
prefEdit.putInt("SomeIntValue_100", 100);
prefEdit.putFloat("SomeFloatValue_1.11", 1.11f);
prefEdit.putString("SomeStringValue_Unicorns", "Unicorns");
prefEdit.commit();
// BEGIN EXAMPLE
File myPath = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().toString());
File myFile = new File(myPath, "MySharedPreferences");
try
{
FileWriter fw = new FileWriter(myFile);
PrintWriter pw = new PrintWriter(fw);
Map<String,?> prefsMap = prefs.getAll();
for(Map.Entry<String,?> entry : prefsMap.entrySet())
{
pw.println(entry.getKey() + ": " + entry.getValue().toString());
}
pw.close();
fw.close();
}
catch (Exception e)
{
// what a terrible failure...
Log.wtf(getClass().getName(), e.toString());
}
}